Stephan Ivans, FBI Agent, Might Have Been Found Dead in Burbank

The body of an FBI agent feared to be suicidal appears to have been found in the foothills above Burbank, police said this morning.

Stephan Ivans was a 35-year-old L.A.-based lawman said to be despondent when he went for a walk in the Verdugo Mountains in spring. KNX 1070 Newsradio reported that a law enforcement "service revolver" was found next to the body.

The discovery was made ...

... Monday night after two hikers in the area smelled the remains in the 3600 block of Scott Road, according to a Burbank police statement. That's an area near a church.

Dennis Romero is an L.A. Weekly staff writer. He formerly worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times, where he participated in Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the L.A. riots. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone online, the Guardian and, as a young stringer, the New York Times.